Grace and peace, Saints.

It is no secret that Satan is after our kids, and that is why it is important that we, as Christian parents, keep our antenna up for the slightest hint of trouble.  Most of us are aware of the various methods Satan uses to gain an avenue into our children’s spiritual lives, and we take steps to protect our children from his influence through these mediums.  But we often fail to consider that something as innocent as candy--yes, candy--can be used as a weapon against our children.

Case in point:  Last year, I allowed my two youngest daughters to hang out at the mall with their two best friends.  Now, I would normally not have let them do this, because they are too young to go to the mall alone (I'm very old school).  But, I know my wife, and I know that, being unsaved, and not having the discernment that she should, she had, on occasion, allowed my children to do things that I would not.  Going to the mall is one of those things.

You may recall that my wife and I have only just gotten back together after being separated for over four years.  My children are saved, thank God, but they had been living with their unsaved mother for the last two and a half years without the benefit of godly counsel.  Now, Satan would have loved for me to have come in and put my foot down and become a “holy tyrant," because he could use this to turn my children off to the Christian way of life and to Jesus Christ.  All too often, well-meaning Christian parents have been too heavy-handed in their attempts to sanctify their homes and insulate their children from satanic influence, only to drive them away from Jesus altogether. 

I decided, therefore, that, under the circumstances, it would be better to let them go, making sure to take the proper security precautions.  It would also be a great opportunity to see where my children were maturity-wise.

Well, they did go, and they did a stellar job, calling me when they got there, and remaining in the mall like I asked them to.  When it was time for them to come home, they called me, and my wife and I went to pick them up, and we all took the subway home.  On the way, there was an interesting development:  My daughter pulled out what appeared to be a pack of cigarettes.  A bolt of lightning passed through my body.  As it turned out, it was a pack of chewing gum made to look like a pack of cigarettes, and each stick of gum was in the shape of a cancer stick. 

 

I asked God to give me the wisdom to explain to my children why this was not a good idea.  The Lord instructed me to handle it thus:  I asked my daughter if it is good for a person to smoke cigarettes.  When she replied that it was not, I asked her why.  She told me that it was bad for a person’s health, because a person could get cancer and die.  I then asked her if she believed that there is a war going on between Satan and Jesus Christ and between their followers.  She responded that there was indeed a war going on.  I told her that Satan hates all humanity and is trying to destroy us using every means at his disposal.  Substance abuse is one way that Satan is accomplishing this, and cigarette smoking is a form of substance abuse. 

I next asked if she ever noticed that people smoke an awful lot, and when she responded, yes, I asked her if she ever saw young people and children smoking.  She told me that many of the children in her class smoke.  My daughter is 15.

I then asked her if she knew how any of her classmates got started smoking, and she said that one of her classmates had told her that her own mother tried to get her to smoke.   As for the rest, she didn’t know how they got started.  I then held up the pack of candy cigarettes and asked her if she thought that this might be a way that a young person could get interested in smoking.  At that, her eyes got wide, and at the point of tears, she started apologizing profusely.  She felt that she should have known bett